Finale...Part 2

(Author’s Note: Before I finish this storyline, I need to take a moment to dedicate this post, this blog to the one person who means more to me than anything else in the world. She is my inspiration, the love of this life and beyond, an awesome mom to my daughter, a beautiful bride, a powerful witch, and the best damn writer I know. She is also the inspiration for the character of Cerrydwen. Since I lack the ability to capture her true beauty in words, I chose to showcase her strength of will and character and to find beauty in that. Pat this is dedicated to you, for now and forever. This red rose is my answer forever to that question you asked lo those many years ago. –Doug)

As the boat roared through the River of Grass in the dark of night, I was struck by the beauty of this strange, alien landscape. There was just enough light from the sliver of the moon and from the bright stars to reflect off of the slow moving water and in the red eyes of the nocturnal denizens of this place.

Ravyn was silent in her own thoughts next to me, her arms wrapped around the duffle bag that I now knew contained some sort of egg for her Phoenix to hatch into this world, for however long it could do so.

We had lost sight of the other boat, but we also knew that they were headed to a slightly different jumping off point for the assault.

The pilot of the boat was a skillful as he was quiet. He manuevered through the myriad of channels, canals and around the occasional islands in the dark as if he had a computerized guidance system, which he most assuredly did not.

After about 30 minutes of travel at what must have been close to full speed, the fan slowed perceptibly and then sputtered to a complete stop. We continued to coast along silently, first looking up to the pilot, then following his pointing arm towards a lump of land that seemed to loom up out of the surrounding grass fairly silently.

The air boat coasted up to the island silently, the boat coming to a gentle stop as the front end beached itself on the rushes and slope of the island’s coast. The pilot climbed down from his seat, held his hand to his lips and motioned for us to follow him. We leaped out of the boat and onto the soft soil of the island. He used a rope to quickly tie the boat to a nearby tree to keep it from floating off.

We followed him in the dark as he led the way down a now obvious trail in the othrwise thick foliage of the island. It seemed to be a fairly large island since we followed the trail for nearly ten minutes before he crouched down, motioning us to to do the same.

He turned to whisper to us, “Just beyond those bushes, you will see the island that the interlopers have taken. There is a small canoe for you to use when the time is right to move. I have more to do, so I will leave you now.”

He left as silently as he brought us. Ravyn and I were left to our own devices to wait out the remainder of the night. She sat down and started openning up the bag that she had so lovingly brought with her. Once the bag was open, she carefully peeled layer after layer of old towels and other linens from the open end. Soon, I could see the outline of a what would be the largest egg I had ever seen. She reached in and pulled out the large shape.

The surface of the egg gleamed like polished stone, which is what it most resembled. She settled the egg/stone in a nest of the old linens that she had used to protect the thing and caressed it with obvious love.

“What is that thing made out of?”

She looked up at me, beaming with pride, “It started as a small obsidian egg no larger than the palm of my hand. Over the last few years, I have been channeling energy into it, with the help of my companion, and it has grown. It is now ready to hatch, and when it does, Syreena will be here in the flesh, for as long as she is given to act. When her time is up, I will have to find the egg that she lays within her own ashes, and nurture that one until it is ready again.”

“How long do you think she will be around for?”

At this, she looked a little sad. “I’m not sure. But I don’t expect that it will be for long, she will consuming lots of energy just by being alive. But that short time will be wonderful.”

“I’m going to go get into position, it will be light soon.”

“I’ll be right here, let me know when you see anything.”

“OK.”

With that, I started to move towards where the pilot had pointed, brushing back tall reeds and looking around the small trees that seemed to line the island coast. I could hear the water lapping up against the shore and the small canoe that was there waiting for us to use.

I could just make out the shape of the island across the stretch of water and was immediately struck by the perspective of the building…this was the viewpoint that I had seen in the Pool beneath the Tree. The Convergence was going to happen soon!

As the first rays of dawn began to break over the horizon, I began to see some activity stirring on the island across the way. I hunkered down further into the concealing rushes, waiting for my family to brought out. Unfortunately that moment didn’t come for another couple of hours.

Just as I was beginning to lose patience, I heard the sputtering of air boat motors, and the scene I so vividly recalled from the visions of the pool began to play out. I could see Jasmine and Katherine being escorted from the air boat as it docked, and they were escorted off of it and towards the building. Papa Locks and the monster he controlled were there, as was Drake, just like the vision.

“Ravyn,” I called out in a whisper, “it begins.”

In response, I heard her chanting in a soft whisper of her own, I looked back briefly to see her swaying and moving her hands along the surface of the egg before getting up and moving back a bit. I turned my attention back towards the building, just in time to see my daughter and ex escorted into the building by Drake and his henchmen.

Papa Locks and the monster remained outside for a bit, but were just about to go inside, when they heard the rattling hum of another air boat approaching their island. They must not have been expecting this one, because they moved towards to docks to get a better look at the approaching boat.

I heard a crackling voice over my wristwatch/communicator thing, it was John. “I will be leaving my channel open from this point, Jim please terminate it when it is no longer necessary. Farewell my brothers and sisters.”

I could now see him standing at the back of a smaller air boat, one meant for very few passengers. He was alone.

Papa Locks stood laughing as John approached. He called out when John was within hearing range, “What is it that you want Red Man?”

“I have come for Rusty’s family.” John called out. I could hear him both across the water and over the wristband, although it was clearer over the wristband.

Papa Locks threw his head back and laughed again. “You fool, all that you will find here is your doom! I will finish what I started before!”

“I am giving you one last warning Locks, return the women to me and you will be allowed to live, I will merely turn you and your comrades over to the authorities.”

John’s boat drifted up to the dock now. He easily looped a rope over a pole and leaped lightly to the dock.

“You think I fear you Red Man? I showed you before who was the greater Shaman, are you so eager to walk the Worlds Beyond? Where is Rusty now? We are expecting him anytime now. He is so predictable.”

John appraoched Papa Locks, who stood waiting at the base of the dock. The monster moved as if to intercept John, but Papa Locks waved it back, fingering the wicked looking knife at his belt.

“Don’t you think you should ask your master before you make such a choice for everyone concerned?”

Papa Locks snarled at that, “How dare you? I have no master! I make my own choices in this life!” With a single motion, he drew the knife and slashed it across Johh’s throat. John never made a motion to resist.

John staggered with the blow, red blood fountained up in a spray that covered the now smiling Papa Locks. Before he collapsed though, John managed to say one last thing. “Remember, the choice was yours to make. You have brought this upon yourself..”

It was beyond hard to see and hear John be slain like this. Even knowing what would happen in advance, it took every ounce of my newfound reserve of patience to not callout and try stop it from happenning.

The link at my wrist grew silent as Jim followed John’s wishes, then sparked to life again with Jim’s hushed and strained voice. “All marks go. Remember the plan, protect the prisoners.”

As I moved down towards the canoe, I could sense several things happening at once. There was a thunderous crack behind me as I presumed the egg hatched. The roar of flame and Ravyn’s war cry confirmed the hunch. I saw Papa Locks’ head snap up from looking down at John’s now still body as he looked over towards me. The monster seemed to sense the danger, and stepped in front of Papa Locks as several bullets from different hidden locations rang out towards the Haitian. All thudded harmlessly into the monster’s armored body. He used the beast for cover and moved back towards the doors.

The wind seemed to pick up all of a sudden as well. There was a faint sound of drumming and chanting in the rush of the wind. I wasn’t sure if it was the Miccosuccee hidden far away, or if it was some spiritual tribute to John’s passing that I heard.

As I slipped into the canoe, calling out for Ravyn to join me, I looked up to see a very large, very bright bird of almost pure fire diving towards me. Sitting improbably on its enormous back was Ravyn, grinning like a banshee! Its claws were extended, before I knew it, I was scooped up in its giant claws and was being transported towards the island.

The chaos of the moment is difficult to describe. From my now elevated vantage point, I could make out several canoes advancing upon the island, most containing one or two warriors bent on exacting revenge. On Drake’s island, I saw several armed men emerging from doorway, firing shots almost at random.

The space between the place I was picked up at and the island disappeared within three beats of the Phoenix’s mighty wings. But in that time, several things happened. I saw Drake and El Diablito emerge from the doorway to join with Papa Locks and his creature in their own miniature Axis of Evil. I also saw the blue streak of what could only be Cerrydwen racing across the water as if it were dry land! I noticed Herne’s figure emerge from the water off to the left beyond the sight lines of Drake and his group, who all seemed transfixed by the surely improbable sight of a giant flaming bird with a zombie in its claws and the now screeching Ravyn on its back heading straight towards them!

As I bore down on the suddenly worried group of evil men, I noticed that Papa Locks was trying to direct his own pet zombie into some form of action, but it stood there transfixed, as if he could no longer directly control the beast. He was waving frantically at the thing by the time I was being dropped like a bomb towards the creature!

I instantly lost track of everything else going on in the battle, as my vision was focused solely on that brutal monster who had killed so many innocents. I crashed into it and we both went rolling. The collision sent earth flying and would have easily crushed the bones of living beings. Instead we both got up relatively unharmed, but focused on each other. I dropped my baton into my palm and clicked it open as I came up to a crouching position. It did the same.

We faced off against each other. This time, I wasn’t caught by surprise by its strength and speed, having faced it before. Having spent a lifetime fighting against others who were bigger or stronger than myself, I found I could use this creatures’ own strength against it. Unlike it me, it didn’t have much experience in fighting in this form against an equal or nearly equal foe. Its experience could only be measured in months at best, and only against normal people.

The battle seemed to last forever, but it could only have taken a few minutes at best. Using all of my skills at hand to hand combat and my years of experience as a beat cop and as a scrappy street fighter before that, I was able to disarm the beast by first crusing his weapon hand with a well placed series of blows as it attacked recklessly. Then once it was without its own baton, I focused on crushing it’s knee caps with repeated blows as I dodged away when it tried to bull over me. Once the first knee was useless, the second came easier. Circling behind the crippled beast, I used all of my strength to land a two handed blow to the base of its neck, shattering the weakest vertebrae there.

Using my weight to push the beast down, I was able to reach my hand through a shattered rib to reach the Chakra buried deep in its chest, right where my own had been. When I yanked that out, the creature slumped and remained still. I could make out the smoky spirit shapes that had given the beast animation leaking out from its still form to return to whatever world they had come from.

The crushed Chakra still in my hand, I looked up to see what else was happening.

Papa Locks was locked into a pure battle of Wills with Cerrydwen. They were within a couple of feet of each other, Cerrydwen using her dark glare as I had seen her do before, with Papa Locks returning her glare with one of his own. The muscles on each of their faces were contorting with effort, sweat pouring from their pores.

Ravyn and El Diablito appeared to be locked in their own kind of magickal battle. Ravyn was on the ground now, with no immediate sign of where the Phoenix had gone. Instead she and El Diablito were throwing blasts of fire and energy at each other, deflecting some and absorbng or being hit by some. There was a blazing circle that surrounded the two of them, which no one seemed willing or able to break through.

Herne and Drake were involved in a much more physical confrontation, each moving blindingly fast. Herne had his knife out, while Drake seemed to be using only his hands as weapons, to very good effect, as it was clear that Herne was on the defensive in this battle, being the slower of the two.

I grabbed my baton and rushed to Herne’s aid. I came up quickly behind Drake and tried to pummel the bastard, but he was too quick, somehow anticipating my attack and dodging just in the nick of time. Herne took the opportunity to thrust with his knife, plunging it into Drake’s chest. Unfortunately the blow didn’t seem to faze Drake who merely took the opportunity to reach out and snap Herne’s wrist with one hand and land a bruising blow to the temple with the other hand, dropping Herne before he could call out in pain from the broken wrist.

Drake dodged backward, pulling the knife from his chest and smiling at me as we circled each other warily. “I see I underestimate you Rusty. You are proving to be quite the formiddable foe.”

“You had better leave my family alone you bastard!”

“Oh don’t worry, I have much more useful things to do with them than harm them my dear Rusty.”

“I’m not going to let you experiment on them like you did those poor souls in Auschwitz, von Graffen!”

That name brought up Drake short. He stopped smiling at that. “So you know someothing of my past do you. Well, you’ve got more work to do, if you think that was my first name.”

I lunged at him with my baton, hoping to catch him offguard, but he was too fast, sidestepping the thrust and spinning around behind me before I could recover. Before I realized what happened, I face first in the ground, with my arm being twisted behind me. He was so fast and so strong!

He whispered in my ear as I struggled to regain a position to resist from, “I think it is well past time to end my experiment with you, dear Rusty. Enough of this foolishness.”

I couldn’t tell what he was doing, but there was a sudden blast of wind, with the slightest hint of drums and chanting, then a second blast, this time much more powerful as a bolt of lightning struck Drake full on the chest and blew him off of me. More drums and chanting wafted by in the sudden silence of the moment, then faded.

It me a moment to recover from the energy of the blast, but when I did, all of the action had come to a stop.

I looked up to see Drake gone. I looked back to the others, and couldn’t believe my eyes. Cerrydwen was locked into what appeared to be a kissing embrace with Papa Locks, however Papa Locks’ body was now shriveled and decayed looking, Jim was standing next to her, trying to pry her from Papa Locks’ now dead body, his bat dented and bloody from his many victims.

Ravyn stood, barely, in the burned out circle where her battle had been taking place. Her face and her costume were battered and bloodied. There was no sign of El Diablito.

I could see that all thugs were down, either dead or severely wounded, many of them by nasty burns. Several of the Miccosuccee were coming out of the building, trailed by the dazed looking faces of Jasmine and Katherine.

(Author’s note: Wrap-up on this storyline will come next weekend. Many questions to be answered then.)